PESHAWAR: Security forces killed four terrorists in an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.

According to a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces conducted an overnight operation on the reported presence of khawarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij, a term used by the state for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

“During conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location,” the ISPR said, adding that four terrorists were killed after an intense fire exchange.

It continued that weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists, who “remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.

Military’s media wing says weapons, ammunition recovered from slain men

The military’s media wing said that a sanitisation operation was being conducted to eliminate other Indian-sponsored terrorists found in the area.

It concluded that security forces and law enforcement agencies would “continue the relentless counter terrorism campaign under vision Azm-i-Istehkam (as approved by the Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”.

The development comes days after a terrorist attack, involving an explosive-laden vehicle, on a checkpost in KP’s Bajaur district, martyred 11 security personnel, as per the ISPR.

KP has seen a rise in terrorist attacks in the past year. According to the Annual Security Report 2025 from the Centre for Research and Security Studies, the province recorded a significant surge in violence last year as “fatalities rose from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025”.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2026